CRADLE Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan’s wife, Samirah Muzaffar, has been jointly charged with murder alongside her two sons and their Indonesian maid, Eka Wahayu Lestari, who was charged in absentia.

The four were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code to be read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum death sentence. 

No plea was recorded from the 43-year-old woman and the two siblings.

The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Magistrate Muhammad Ikhwan Mohd Nasir allowed for the case to be transferred to the high court. He also placed a gag order on the identity of the two boys, who are 13 and 16. 

According to the charge sheet, the trio and another woman, identified as Eka, were accused of committing the offence between 11.30pm on June 13 and 4am on June 14 last year at a house in Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

Press and members of the public crammed into back of the courtroom while waiting for proceedings to begin. 

Samirah’s wheelchair-bound father and prominent academic Chandra Muzaffar, who had been wheeled in earlier, was also seated at the viewing gallery. He appeared calm throughout the proceedings and smiled faintly at those around him. 

At about 2.14pm, Samirah and her two sons were led in by the police from a holding room next to the court room. Samirah, who was handcuffed, wore spectacles and a green headscarf, and sat apart from her sons who were dressed in school uniforms and did not have handcuffs on. 

As the charges were read, all three appeared calm and answered in low tones that they understood the charges read to them. 

Samirah and the two boys were escorted out of court separately between 3.52pm and 4.15pm – the boys in separate Proton Preves, and Samirah in a Black Maria. All three had their heads covered. 

After the court proceedings, Samirah’s lawyer told The Malaysian Insight that Samirah has been taken to Kajang prison while the boys are held in a juvenile facility. 

The defence is lead by L.S. Leonard and Mahinjit Singh, while the prosecution is lead by Jamin Aripin and Mohd Zain Ibrahim.

This morning, police picked up Samirah and her two sons about 6.45am from their home.

In the first post-mortem conducted on Nazrin’s remains in June, Kuala Lumpur Hospital pathologists concluded that he died of blast injuries after his mobile phone, which was being charged next to his bed, exploded.

Fire and Rescue Department investigators later discovered traces of petrol in the bedroom.

Police then reclassified the case as murder and questioned several family members.

Last week, a second post-mortem revealed that Nazrin died of multiple head injuries.

The Malaysian Insight also learnt that the second autopsy report revealed that the victim did not sustain blast injuries to the head, as stated in the first post-mortem report. – March 4, 2019.